Day 129 to an anchorage near Georgina Island

       We left the dock at 12:40 pm. Our destination is an anchorage 25.1 miles away between Georgina Island and the shoreline.  The water here is supposed to be super clear with a sandy bottom.  We had intended to leave around 10:00 am, but the Admiral noticed a leaking hose when she was down in the engine room.  It was the hose between the seacock for the raw water intake and the water stainer for the port engine.  The photo at the right shows the hose with a highliter stuck in the original crack. The hose is in much worse shape in the picture after I man handled it to get it off of the ribbed fittings at the ends. We looked to see if we had a piece on board, and we soon realized that we had the right kind of hose but wrong size.  We went to the marina sales and service department and purchased a foot of the hose we needed.  We decided to get one other size smaller for good measure but they did not have it so we hoofed it to another marine store about 1/2 mile away and they were able to supply it.  We now had all bases covered.  I finished the job in a few minutes.

      We ate a quick lunch on the boat before throwing the lines off to begin our trip three hours later than planned.  The photo at the left shows the scene as the Admiral was taking off the last dock lines. We enjoyed our stay at Krate's Marina, but it felt good to toss off the dock lines and go in seek of more adventures. The wind had died over night to a gentle 4 to 6 mph breeze out of the south. It was already 80 degrees and getting hotter so we were happy to be out on the cooler water again.

      Speaking of excited, Lucky came out of her kennel on the flybridge to take a ceremonial walk around the flybridge after we had left the pile driver (photo at right) behind. I am with her as the uneven bagding of the pile driver did get on my nerves after a while. The small crane was holding up extensions that were being welded onto piles already driven into the ground. On the far end, the piles hit bedrock without the extension, but the bedrock was much deeper toward this end.

       There were about two dozen boats at the anchorage when we arrived at 4:00 pm. The photo at the left shows some of the many swimmers, which also included a number of dogs. We were not too concerned about the anchorage being too crowded over night since all but 4 of the other boat were small outboard boats that would not be staying over night. There are two sand bars between Lucky Us and the shore. We anchored in about 10 feet of water, and after I had time to look around more, there were swimmers on the sand bars that were occasionally walking in water less than knee deep. Lucky Us has a 4 foot draft so we could not have gotten much closer without risking running aground.

      As  soon as we had put Lucky Us to bed it was time to unload a kayak for Lucky's first trip to shore, and as usual, she was excited. We think that she actually enjoys riding in the kayak in addition to the for obvious reward of a bathroom trip. She loves to drink the cool fresh water, and she has started to lean out the side of the kayak to do just that. At least she does not make a lot of sudden moves, except when we are about to land. The photo at the right shows the happy kayakers returning with the mission accomplished. There is very little actual beach here, but Lucky enjoyed running in the sand and shallow water. Also, with a little help from the Admiral Lucky even went for a short swim.

      After the kayak event, The Admiral and I both went swimming. The photo at the left shows Lucky watching very intently as this strange creatures with the goggles is about to go underwater to clean off the transducer for the depth sounder. It is mounted on the transom about 2.5 feet below the water. We have been getting periods of time where the reading depth sounder just flashes, and our hope is that the problem is just algae growing on the transducer.

       About 8:00 pm it was my turn to take Lucky for her final trip to shore for the day. We had a nice trip, and Lucky jumped out of the kayak as we were still about 10 feet from shore. A few seconds after she jumped the kayak touched bottom so she had been lucky to land in 6 inches or so of water. The water here is so clear that she probably had no real idea of the depth when she jumped... The photo at the right shows our return just as the sun was setting.

      Speaking of the setting sun, the photo at the left shows part of a long and brilliant show of colors during the sunset. What a beautiful sight to mark the end of a busy but wonderful day on the water...